Press Complaints Commission >> Report by the Chairman of the Code Committee

report by the chairman of the code committee

The industry's Code of Practice is at the very centre of the effective system of self regulation which this Annual Report has reviewed.

A clear and practical Code is vital for three reasons:

It is essential for editors - giving them a firm set of ground rules, rooted in best practice and robust common sense, on which they and their competitors should operate;

it is crucial to members of the Press Complaints Commission - setting out the benchmarks by which they judge complaints brought to them; and

it is important for the public - who know what standards to expect from newspapers and magazines, and what their rights are when complaining.

For all these reasons, it is extremely important that the Code of Practice - although ratified by the PCC - belongs to the newspapers and magazines themselves. Framed by editors for editors, it carries far more authority than statute ever could. Furthermore, it also ensures far more participation by the public in the framing of the rules by which publications operate than laws ever could.

The Code needs to be a flexible document - responding to public concerns, and to changes in technology and best practice - and in 1996 it demonstrated its flexibility to the full. In that year, the Code Committee which is charged with updating and amending the Code:

considered twenty submissions from members of the public - one of which resulted in a change to the Code;

responded to public concern after the trial for murder of Rosemary West about payments to witnesses - revising the Clause on the subject in the Code to distinguish between payments to criminals and payments to witnesses, and to introduce transparency into any such payments;

continued its consideration of the recommendations on the Code outlined in the White Paper on Privacy and Media Intrusion in July 1995 - resulting in changes in the wording of four of the Clauses in the Code, and the listing of PCC guidance on copies of the Code distributed to the industry; and

co-operated with the Lord Chief Justice in ensuring that judges are informed of the Code's provisions on the reporting of cases involving sexual offences against children.

The Code Committee is chaired by Sir David English and meets three times a year to review representations by members of the public, the PCC and editors themselves about changes to the Code. It is comprised of senior editors from across the industry; the chairman and Director of the PCC attend to provide lay input into discussions and ensure co-ordination with the work of the Commission

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